“Those two are still blocked?” Ava tapped the seat chart taped to the gate desk.
The flight was full. People stood in a long line by the windows. Bags rolled over the tile. A child near the rope pulled on his dad’s sleeve.
“I want the window.”
“You’ve got to wait,” his dad said. “We don’t know where we sit yet.”
Ava looked at the chart again. Two seats near the front were held back. The airline had started saving a few pairs for adults flying with young kids.
That gave families a better shot at sitting together. It also meant other people couldn’t grab every open seat the minute they bought a ticket.
A man in a blue jacket leaned over the counter. “I paid early for a seat near the front. Why are those still blocked?”
“They may go to a family,” Ava said.
“So I can’t buy them now?”
“Not yet.”
Behind him, a mom held two boarding passes and a stuffed rabbit. Her son was six. His seat was in row twelve. Hers was in row twenty-one.
She’d booked the cheapest fare she could find. The seats had gone fast.
“Can he sit alone?” she asked.
Ava looked at the chart. If the airline kept seats back, it could put the boy beside his mom. If it sold every seat as soon as it could, there might be nothing left to move.
The gate lead walked over with a fresh stack of boarding passes.
“We need to pick one rule,” he said. “Hold some seats for families, or sell them all.”
Ava looked down the line.
The man in the blue jacket wanted the seat he could see was open. The mom held her son’s hand tighter.
Boarding would start in ten minutes.
The gate lead waited for Ava to tell him which seats to unlock.